Re: Tips for keeping warm
Same here, and electric as well. For electricity, the government told electric companies that they had to start participating in funding green energy by giving them a surcharge, but of course instead of taking that out of their massive profits, that surcharge was passed on to us.
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You've mostly lived in BC though, right? $200 is a lot less to the average BC resident than 125 pounds is to the average British resident, because incomes are higher on average. Also, the cost of energy is so much lower in BC. So, so much lower. I always lived on the coast, which I admit has blissfully low heating costs (mind you, so should the UK as the climate is similar), but even a mild winter here in Berlin (which could also be similar) where I rarely use heat will carry higher costs than if I used the heat daily back home. AND I think heat/gas is a bit cheaper in Germany than the UK. Wages have also stagnated in Germany. I think this is true for the whole country, but as most of the country is fairly high-income, it's not really such a big deal. In Berlin though, it's a HUGE deal. It's traditionally a very cheap city, but rents are rising fast, and the rising costs of stuff like food and energy are felt really strongly. People earn lower wages here than the rest of the country and wages aren't going up, even though costs are starting to resemble other German cities.
I think in general, Europe is facing a lot of intense political corruption, and it's not really being dealt with because of the financial crisis. Even over here where things are better financially, they still use it to justify everything, like "we're doing everything right because we're not in a recession". Unfortunately low labour costs have been cited as one of the things that shelters Germany, so there's little incentive to introduce something like a minimum wage (which would be massively helpful to the high number of people living in Berlin making 4 Euros per hour). The UK isn't so much in a recession anymore as it is stagnant, but "recession" is still used to justify really crappy pay, major cuts, and rising costs.
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Yep, and looking at this map, it also explains why Alberta is so rich (they also have all the oil):
Back in the day, I also had electric heat, which people went off of back home as they got sold natural gas provided by private companies, but is actually rather green as electricity comes from renewable sources in the province, and is dirt cheap, as it's provided by a provincial crown corporation.
Originally posted by Jembru
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Originally posted by volcaniclastic
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I think in general, Europe is facing a lot of intense political corruption, and it's not really being dealt with because of the financial crisis. Even over here where things are better financially, they still use it to justify everything, like "we're doing everything right because we're not in a recession". Unfortunately low labour costs have been cited as one of the things that shelters Germany, so there's little incentive to introduce something like a minimum wage (which would be massively helpful to the high number of people living in Berlin making 4 Euros per hour). The UK isn't so much in a recession anymore as it is stagnant, but "recession" is still used to justify really crappy pay, major cuts, and rising costs.
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Originally posted by Jembru
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Back in the day, I also had electric heat, which people went off of back home as they got sold natural gas provided by private companies, but is actually rather green as electricity comes from renewable sources in the province, and is dirt cheap, as it's provided by a provincial crown corporation.
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